UB is introducing a program this fall to guarantee that students graduate in four years.
"Finish in Four" ensures undergraduate students who are studying in a four-year program will complete their program in four years. If not, UB will pay the rest of the students' tuition.
The Spectrum met with Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Scott Weber for information about the program.
The content of this interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: If I were an incoming freshman and wanted to enroll in the "Finish in Four" program, how would I go about it?
A: Advisers are reaching out to students before orientation and asking if students would like to enroll, and why they should. We are also going to talk about it more in orientation. Incoming freshmen will get a full dose and have also gotten a postcard about the program in the mail.
Q: How many have enrolled,or shown interest?
A: A little over half of our students who have filled out their bio-data forms without any personal direct touch have already indicated an interest. We expect that number to go up.
Q: Are students randomly selected, or can any incoming freshman enroll?
A: We would like every student to enroll, why not? We thought about actually doing a pilot program, but then we said no; we want every student to be engaged. There are some students who will not sign up because they are enrolling or interested in majors that [take longer than four years]. For example, if you are an intended pharmacy major, you already know that you are going to be here - if you are accepted into the program - a much longer period of time longer than four years.
Q: Was this program put in place to increase graduation rates?
A: What we as a university are trying to do is influence and make sure those students who should typically graduate in four years have a path and the expectations are clear. I think we are trying to influence graduation rates. Every day you read on popular press - NPR, USA Today, Washington Post, The New York Times - about increasing debt that our students are taking on. I think we have a responsibility to communicate clearly to our students that, actually, a four-year degree can be done in four years. I know that I am stating the obvious, but it seems important to.
The national average in public [university] for four-year graduation rates are in the 30 percent range. Our current rate of graduation in four years is about 45 percent. We would like it to be about 55 or 60 percent. Some people may not graduate in four years, and that is fine. We want to make sure that our whole community is thinking about this as a thought process and a culture change. The four-year rate has been increasing, as of late.
About 15 years ago, we were about 30 percent - the national average. We've gone up to about 45 percent; we've made a strong effort to do that. The quality of our students is increasing over that period of time, obviously the higher the quality of the student you have, that's no big surprise. We want to move it into that next 15 percent or so.
Q: Would you say that by enrolling in this program, the university and administration as a whole are challenging students?
A: I'm not looking at this as a competition between students; I'm looking at this as a competition between the students and themselves. I do think there is a culture change on campus that [graduating in four years] becomes the expected norm. The reason you don't graduate in four years is not because 'Well, I just couldn't do it.' It's because you have done something academically unique, interesting, challenging, you've done a double major, or you've gone to study abroad in a program that may not mesh perfectly with the course requirements in your major.
Q: Does this add seats to classrooms?
A: We've added this for the Fall 2012 term compared to the Fall 2011 term; I think we've added about 10,000 seats. I can't tell you exactly how many sections that is, but remember that is not 10,000 students, that is a lot less than 10,000 students getting their classes, but we know those are seats in classes that are of higher need.
These are in composition classes, languages, chemistry, physics, math, anatomy, and high demand areas that have historically been thought of as 'bottle neck' courses, and that is a big commitment. We are excited about that commitment to our students. We are increasing our capacity to advise. I think group advising is very powerful. We want to think about doing that and doing it well.
Q: How will you increase your capacity to advise?
A: We have new advisement reports coming out; we are thinking about how to track advisement. It's like the relay race. You come in, you may have advising by central advising, then you may have advising by your decanal unit, then you may have advising by the department, and how does that hand off? It seems like the relay race is always lost in the baton transfer, and I think we need a more seamless system of how we make that transfer so the students see a sort of seamless path through that process.
Q: What if students don't sign up?
A: Quite frankly, if students do not sign up, we are trying to build a capacity for those even if they don't sign up. Our goal is even if you sign up or not, you still graduate in four years.
Q: What if you don't "finish in four?"
A: [UB] will pay for the student's tuition. First off, students have to take the initiative to go seek out their advisers. There has to be legitimate reason why we could not fulfill our end of the bargain. Our fulfillment to our students is to provide a clear path toward graduation for every major, to provide the advising as needed to communicate that path, and the tools to communicate to the students whether they are on the path or not.
My new metaphor to describe this is a GPS. So you are driving in a lane, and you punch in the punch-in that you know you are going from point A to point B. Think of A as when you are coming here for freshmen weekend, and B is graduation weekend. We know what points A and B are, but we don't know exactly what stops will be on the way, but you chart your path.
When you make a wrong turn on the GPS it says, 'recalculating.' Students somewhere along the way may make a wrong turn; we want to be there to recalculate their path if they make a wrong turn.
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
